Peer into Lynne Rosetto Kasper’s splendid collection, as she auctions off a cook’s greatest treasures

It’s a copper pot so robust in nature that one can’t help but feel intimidated. Oval-shaped with a handled, ridged top, the width and depth suggest the massive vessel could double as a rustic hot tub.

“See the lid with these tall sides?” pointed out Revere Auctions specialist Sean Blanchet. “You would load coals onto the top for cooking.”

The mirror-like sheen suggested this massive piece of French cookware hadn’t touched fire in years, if ever. Nevertheless, I envisioned Lynne Rossetto Kasper gathering friends and luminaries around an extended dining table for a sumptuous feast, where she’d undoubtedly introduce a centerpiece dish with that honeyed voice familiar to longtime fans of her American Public Media show “The Splendid Table.“

This distinctive item is one of several pieces of cookware, cookbooks and more from the personal collection of the award-winning chef, radio host and cookbook author. Now, Rossetto Kasper has put her treasured kitchen bevy up for sale. St. Paul-based Revere Auctions, which specializes in rare collections, is running the online auction in which live bidding will take place on April 16.

It makes sense that the virtual sale is based in St. Paul. Rossetto Kasper lived in the Crocus Hill neighborhood for years while recording the radio show, but her journey to food-world acclaim came by way of Italy.

She was working as a journalist while her husband’s job had them based in Belgium. While freelancing for notable food publications, Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region tugged at her heartstrings. She traveled back and forth to the Italian region countless times, even as she relocated to a home base stateside. She would spend the next 10 years writing what became her landmark tome: “The Splendid Table: Recipes From Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food,” first published in 1992. A galley copy — the early print before wide release — is available in the collection.

As she told the Star Tribune in 2017, “I wanted to mark, to memorialize, to record what this precious time had meant, and what I’d learned. Not just learning about a dish, or a culture, but about a different way of being.”

With the book’s success came opportunities and television offers, but one phone call caught her attention. As she recounted in that same 2017 interview, ″I got a call from this young woman. She said she’d been cooking from my book for six months, and that she just heard me on NPR, and had I ever thought of doing a radio show?"

The woman on the phone was Sally Swift, “The Splendid Table” co-creator and managing producer.

The show for people who love to eat remains a weekly invitation for listeners to dive deeper into what’s on the table and how it got there. Rossetto Kasper set the tone with insatiable curiosity and rigorous research. At the end of every show, listeners would call in with cooking conundrums, allowing the host to dip into her encyclopedic knowledge with warm humor and boundless enthusiasm so that it never felt like we were alone in the kitchen.

While she was not available for an interview about the auction, it’s clear that the artifacts represent a deep appreciation for the art of feeding others.

There are boxes of handwritten notes, French periodicals, spiral-bound vintage recipes, an 1890 first edition of the “Compendium of Cookery” cookbook as well as more recent books, including those from famous guests.

Blanchet picked up a copy of Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and fanned through the pages marked with multicolored Post-its. “Reading through her notes is fascinating,” he said. “And then, presumably, you could go listen to the episode and see how they informed the interview.”

In 2017, the year she retired from the radio show now hosted by Francis Lam, Rossetto Kasper relished the joy of exploring cookbooks, if not exactly following a recipe’s every letter. “I get ideas from them, and then I’ll improvise,” she told the Star Tribune’s Rick Nelson.

Rossetto Kasper’s collection includes items from other enthusiastic home cooks turned teachers, people whose names are now shorthand for greatness in the field.

She exchanged notes with Julia Child that are alongside a vintage copy of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”

James Beard, whose name is now shorthand for the culinary world’s version of the Oscars, signed his books for her. There’s also prized hardware up for grabs: her 1993 James Beard Foundation Award honoring “The Splendid Table” cookbook.

Inside a St. Paul warehouse, racks are stacked with stunning black teacups by Wedgewood, brightly colored vintage Le Creuset pans, knives with wooden handles worn from use, delicate porcelain molds, breathtaking works of art along with an array of even more copper cookware.

“There’s a hardcore set of copper pot connoisseurs around the world,” said Blanchet. “We expect those to get a lot of attention.”

And while most items will likely be enshrined as artifacts, there’s also a little hope that maybe one might still find use. Heaved onto a dining room table extended by two leaves, its presence would likely silence boisterous chatter upon which the host might pause, before raising the lid to reveal something delicious.

Correction: The time frame in which live bidding will take place has been updated.